``The rifts within the upper echelons of Chinese Communist Party are worse than they were during the build-up to Tiananmen Square, he said, and risks spiralling into "revolution". Dr Cheng -- a Shanghai native -- is research director of the Brookings Institution in Washington and a director of the National Committee on US-China Relations. He argues that China's economic hard-landing is intertwined with a leadership crisis as the ten-year power approaches this autumn. The two are feeding on each other. "You cannot forecast the Chinese economy unless you have a sophisticated view of the political landscape and the current succession crisis," he said.''